US soldier arrested in plot to blow up 9/11 memorial in New York

NEW YORK – A US Army soldier was arrested in Georgia on Tuesday for terrorism after he spoke online of plots to blow up New York’s 9/11 Memorial and other landmarks and attack US soldiers in the Middle East , the authorities said.

Cole James Bridges of Stow, Ohio, was in custody on charges of attempted material support for a terrorist organization – the Islamic State group – and attempted murder of a serviceman, said Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for federal prosecutors in Manhattan.

The 20-year-old soldier, also known as Cole Gonzales, was with the Third Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Ga. When he thought he was communicating with ISIS online about the terrorist plots, said Biase.

Unbeknownst to Bridges, an FBI employee was participating in the chat as Bridges provided him with detailed instructions on tactics and manuals and advice on attacking the memorial and other targets in New York City, Biase said.

“As we claim today, Bridges, a soldier in the US Army, betrayed our country and his unit when he conspired with someone he believed to be an ISIS sympathizer to help ISIS to attack and kill American soldiers in the Middle East, ”said William F. Sweeney Jr., head of the FBI’s New York bureau.

“Fortunately, the person he contacted was an FBI employee, and we were able to prevent his bad wishes from coming true,” Sweeney said in a statement.

“Our troops are risking their lives for our country, but they should never face such a peril at the hands of one of their own,” said US prosecutor Audrey Strauss.

Bridges was scheduled to appear in federal court for the first time in Augusta, Georgia on Thursday.

It was not immediately clear who would represent him.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Bridges joined the United States Army in September 2019 and was assigned as a cavalry scout at Fort Stewart.

At one point, he began to seek out and consume online propaganda promoting the jihadists and their violent ideology, authorities said.

They said he expressed his support for ISIS and jihad on social media before starting to communicate in October with an FBI employee who was posing as an ISIS supporter in contact with ISIS fighters. group in the Middle East.

According to court documents, he expressed his frustration with the US military and his desire to help the Islamic State group.

The criminal complaint says he then provided training and advice to alleged ISIS fighters planning attacks, including advice on potential targets in New York City, including the 9/11 memorial.

He said he also provided portions of a US Army training manual and advice on military combat tactics.

Bridges also schematized specific military maneuvers to help terror group fighters kill American troops, including the best way to fortify an encampment to repel an American special forces attack and how to wire certain buildings with explosives to kill troops. American, according to the complaint.

This month, according to the complaint, Bridges sent a video of himself in a bulletproof vest standing in front of an Islamic State flag, showing his support.

A week later, Bridges uploaded a second video in which he used a voice manipulator and narrated a propaganda speech in support of the ISIS group’s planned ambush against US troops, according to the complaint.

In a statement Tuesday, a spokesman for the 3rd Infantry Division based at Fort Stewart, Lt. Col. Lindsey Elder, confirmed Pfc. Cole James Bridges is assigned to the division. She said the division commanders “are fully cooperating with the FBI.”

Elder referred his inquiries to the Pentagon.

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Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.